SCAGGS' SON'S LAST STAND AT DRAB HOTEL

"NIGHTLY, SOMEBODY MUST CALL 911," says one resident

He lived in a two-story, gated mansion on Russian Hill, the son of a famous
blues musician and an antiques dealer.

He died with 92 cents in his pocket in Room 209 of the Hotel Royan, a
$29-a-night hotel for down-and-outs in the Mission District.

For Oscar Scaggs, heroin was the road that connected these two worlds.

Family and friends of Boz Scaggs' 21-year-old son thought he was on the
road to recovery, scared straight from the overdose death 15 months ago of
his lifelong pal, Nicholas Traina, the 19-year-old son of romance novelist
Danielle Steel.

But even as those who knew and loved him rejoiced in how well he was doing
with his rehab, it is clear Scaggs was not free of the addiction that would
claim his life.

In recent weeks, said hotel manager Barry Bhakta, 53, Scaggs often came
calling at the Hotel Royan, a single-room occupancy hotel at 15th and
Valencia streets that, like most of its residents, has seen better days.

Built in 1928, the hotel used to house minor-league baseball players who
competed at nearby Seals Stadium, home of the Triple-A Seals. But the team
and stadium have both been gone nearly 40 years.

Today, about 100 people live in the hotel, said Bhakta, some for days,
others for years. Most of the occupants are singles or couples, although a
few children also call the place home.

Drug users and dealers, prostitutes, the homeless, the unemployed and the
barely-making-it live there, said Ruth Rodriguez, 47, who's lived at Hotel
Royan for four years.

Rodriguez said she uses heroin and buys her stash from a neighbor down the
hall from her in the hotel. Overdoses at the hotel are common, she said. At
least two people have committed suicide there since she moved in, she said,
including one man who jumped from a top-floor window of the five-story
building.

"Nightly, somebody must call 911," said a fellow resident who gave her name
only as Debbie.

Still, news that the hotel's latest overdose victim was the son of a famous
musician shocked the women. What was a rich boy doing there, they wondered.

Fateful visit

About 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, Scaggs came to visit Thomas Anthony Montalbano,
53, also known as Thomas A. Cole, according to police. Bhakta said while he
was on duty at the front desk in recent weeks, Scaggs had been by to visit
Montalbano several times. Scaggs would drop in at various times of the day
or night, and stay for about a half-hour, he said.

Montalbano told police he last saw Scaggs alive in his room, No. 209,
sometime before 10 p.m. When he returned to the room nearly seven hours
later, he found Scaggs sprawled on his double bed, not breathing.

Montalbano told police he then carried Scaggs to the hotel's shower room 30
feet down the hall and called 911.

But another resident, Luis Gueto Matos, 46, told police that the hotel
clerk called his room and asked him to check on a report from yet another
resident that a body was being dragged down the hall. Matos went to the
bathroom, he told police, found Scaggs, and started performing CPR.

It was too late.

Police found Scaggs already dead on the tile bathroom floor when they
arrived after 5 a.m. Nearby was a porcelain tub with a blue plastic shower
curtain.

"He always came with the drugs'

Montalbano didn't want to talk about what happened, but denied Monday night
that he provided Scaggs with the heroin. No arrests have been made pending
a police investigation.

"I didn't have nothing to do with it," he told The Examiner. "He always
came with the drugs.

"I'm feeling pretty bad," he said.

Residents doubted if Scaggs' death would have any effect on life in the hotel.

On the door of the hotel lobby is a sign forbidding overnight guests. There
is also a sign: "Drug Problem? Call Narcotics Anonymous."

It was there when Scaggs arrived that night.